You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why
sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are
quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of
direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and
foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to
negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue
that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of
the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must
confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly
opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent
tension which is necessary for growth.
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
On Black Friday, November 29, 2019, people from
all walks of life will
join together in New York City in the name of the moral imperative of our time:
the climate and ecological crisis driving us towards extinction. Continuing in
the long and vibrant lineage of nonviolent civil disobedience in this country
and around the world, Extinction Rebellion NYC is organizing a mass
sitting meditation in loving, but fierce, disruption of business as usual. This
meditation will be part of actions throughout the city led by local
neighborhood groups.
We will sit in silence and stillness, in love
and connection,
to challenge the economic, social, and political forces of extraction,
exploitation, and oppression that are destroying ecosystems, killing thousands,
and threatening millions. Predominantly poorer and marginalized people around
the world are suffering. This is a social justice crisis—however, the climate
crisis threatens us all. Some of us will risk arrest in this action, many will
not.
Everyone is welcome. People of every origin
and background, from every religious and spiritual tradition, and none, are
invited to represent their unique voices and communities. This is about our
common humanity and all of the threads of justice weaving together to protect
life.
Please share this call to action with your
community and friends.
To get involved in planning and organizing this
event:
If you are not in the NYC area please sit with
friends in solidarity in a public space near you. Please do not risk arrest
unless you have appropriate support.
NOTE FROM DAVE: While this letter comes from a New York City organizing team, I'm told there will be other sittings around the country. For instance, a group will gather at the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester on Black Friday. Watch for opportunities to sit, pray, meditation and resist in the spirit of nonviolence and love!
NOTE FROM DAVE: While this letter comes from a New York City organizing team, I'm told there will be other sittings around the country. For instance, a group will gather at the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester on Black Friday. Watch for opportunities to sit, pray, meditation and resist in the spirit of nonviolence and love!
Beloved friends,
Humanity is facing an extraordinary crisis: in the worst
case, the end of everything we know and hold dear, the end of our children’s
and grandchildren's lives, the end of history, and the end of every possibility
and every dream for the future. Human extinction driven by ecosystem and
societal collapse stands as a stark possibility on our horizon and we are
racing towards catastrophe with no signs of slowing.
The reality we are facing is difficult and shocking—terrible in the
most profound sense to behold. But we must hold the possibility of our own
extinction in our consciousness. We must allow ourselves to feel our full
emotional response, even fear, grief, anger, or despair—and to hold this
experience with care and compassion. We must not turn away in denial, false
hope, or distraction. Many of you are aware that this is far preferable to
bearing the heavy weight of this terrible burden left unacknowledged. If we are
mindful and stay present, we will awaken—energy and courage will arrive.
We have a choice. We have the chance to forge the
possibility of a future for humanity. We have a chance to see deeply into the
beauty and the wonder of human life and human expression. We have a chance to
see into the extraordinary journey that our ancestors, both human and
non-human, have been tracing through time, and to acknowledge all they have
transmitted to us over the eons. We have a chance to see the daring, magnificent,
and fragile web that holds all life together—and to witness its power and
resilience, its capacity to respond and reweave. We have a choice because we
have the power to respond.
Dear friends, being awake means knowing fully what
is at stake. It also means knowing our responsibility and our capacity to act—to
participate in the reweaving. Life calls to us, asking us to look deeply and
find the courage to respond to the sweeping ecological destruction and climate
devastation that all life is experiencing. Those who see, who are awake, know
the moral pull: the voice in the night calling to us, pushing us to travel,
even to places of great suffering and pain. We feel the powerful urge to
respond with love and courage, to help others to awaken and to act.
Being awake means knowing that without personal
sacrifice, without life on the line, without organized resistance and disruption
grounded in love and community, things will not change. This principle is at
the core of all movements for justice, whether religious or otherwise. On Black
Friday—November 29, 2019—people from all walks of life, coordinated by Extinction Rebellion, will join
together to take action as a continuation of the student climate strike in
September, as a continuation of the mass movement for civil rights.
Our time to act in response is confined to the
narrow space of just a few years.
Climate and ecological data show that we are fast
approaching multiple tipping points that can lead to irreversible and runaway
climate destabilization, taking Earth out of a habitable zone and leading to
massive global extinction. The geologic record shows previous mass extinctions
caused by carbon dioxide driven climatic change. With massive species extinction,
the web of life we are a part of can collapse, taking us with it. Already,
people in the global south are experiencing some of the worst effects of
climate chaos, and the increasingly destructive effects are expected to impact
predominantly people of color and poor, oppressed, and fragile communities all
over the world. Tens of thousands of people are dying annually, and hundreds of
millions of people are in jeopardy of loss of life or forced migration. The
scale of injustice we face is staggering and continues to worsen.
This is the moral imperative of our time. Please join us
on Black Friday—November 29, 2019—to call out the truth about the reality of
the social and ecological collapse that we face. Please join us to sit in
silence and stillness, in love and connection, in the center of busyness,
disrupting destruction, ending confusion, and sending a clear message: We have
stopped. We are saying no to business as usual. We are calling for truth to be
told. We will not allow all we hold dear to be destroyed. We demand
governmental action to halt ecosystem destruction and climate degradation. We
demand that people be heard and empowered through citizens’ assemblies. We demand
justice for all. We will do everything in our power to join together in
strength and connection to protect ourselves and all beings, our future, and
all we hold dear. We declare open rebellion—a rebellion led by wisdom and
compassion, without blame—against the status quo and the forces in motion
driving us towards extinction.
If you are in the New York City area, please join us
in nonviolent direct action on Friday during the day. It will be a mass sit in
a public space. The location will only be disclosed to confirmed participants
in order to maximize everyone’s safety. Some of us will risk arrest. It will be
possible to participate without risk of arrest.
Everyone is welcome. People from
every walk of life, every background, from every religious and spiritual
tradition, and none, are welcomed and invited to represent their unique voices
and communities. This is about humanity and all the threads of justice weaving
together to protect life.
If you are not in the NYC area please sit with
friends in solidarity in a public space near you. Please do not risk arrest
unless you have appropriate support.
Please act only in the spirit of love and
nonviolence.
Please use the link here to join the NYC meditation
and to add your voice and support.
If you would like more information and to get
further involved and share your voice in what we are doing, we will host an
open online call on Sunday, November 10th, at 5 pm Eastern. All are welcome.
With fierce compassion,
XR NYC Mindful Rebels
